A change in US law has made it legal for firms to publicly display images from satellites with resolution high enough to show objects such as manhole covers and postboxes.

Earlier, companies were prohibited from showing images in which objects smaller than 50 centimetres were visible. Reporting the news, an article by Wired.co.uk said it “was hoped that disaster reliefwould become easier as a result of the changes”.

Yet ever greater detail in satellite images is not necessarily the key to effective disaster response, says Liz Hughes, CEO of MapAction, a not-for-profit organisation that collects and maps information relevant to the first responders after a disaster.

Hughes tells me that relief workers need access to information about the situation on the ground quickly in order to help as many people as possible after a disaster. And she says ensuring the accuracy of this information is more of a pressing challenge than generating maps with ever-higher resolution. To read more, click here